Eat Your Books and a Giveaway #31
It’s no secret: I am a big fan of Eat Your Books.
For those not in the know, Eat Your Books is not all about scoffing printed tracts – as appealing as that sounds. No, it is all about being able to keep track of your cookbooks and find the recipes in them quickly and easily.
I’ve been a member for well over a year now and would be lost without it. The nerdy librarian in me would love to be have the time to organise my books and recipes really thoroughly, so Eat Your Books is heaven sent. I am able to assign a category or two (referred to as bookmarks) to each book and recipe. But the real genius behind this for me is that you can find recipes by typing in an ingredient or ingredients. So, if I have a couple of bananas looking rather the worse for wear in the fruit bowl, I can interrogate my cookbooks by typing in bananas and chocolate and up comes a list of 39 recipes that I have access to which include those two ingredients: chocolate banana loaf cake with rum soaked raisins anyone?
Similarly you can ask for a specific type of dish. If I fancy baking a cheesecake, I type in cheesecake and get 54 results. In the unlikely event I wanted a chocolate cheesecake, I would refine my search for and I get 15 results. It’s just brilliant – I’ve used so many recipes I’d never have found otherwise.
You can see what books I have on my bookshelf by clicking on the Eat Your Books badge on my sidebar.
But it’s not just about the books – oh no – food magazines are included as are some of the best food blogs. I had to put “some of the best” because my blog, apparently, is one of them. Add a blog to your collection and you can link direct to the recipes within it. Searches can be made for your complete collection or can be limited to say, magazines only. You can filter by recipe type, ethnicity, course, occasion and a number of other categories.
Not all books have been indexed yet, but progress is steadily being made and a number of my requests for indexing a book have been answered. The more people who join and request a book to be indexed, the more likely it is that it will be done. However, members keen to get a favourite book indexed as quickly as possible, are able to do it themselves.
It’s a good social networking tool too; it enables you to connect with other cookbook loving folk. See how many other members own your book or subscribe to the same blogs as you and find out who they are. If you’re really interested, you can find out how many books you have in common too. Why not read reviews or even submit your own? feeling chatty? Take part in forum discussions or read the many interesting and informative articles on the blog.
$25 for an annual subscription or $2.50 per month is a very reasonable investment for those moments when you just can’t think of what to cook, or where that favourite brownie recipe is lurking.
Tracy K Nixon
4th July 2013 at 9:45 amI would like to see ‘How to Cook for Crohn’s and Colitis: More Than 200 Healthy, Delicious Recipes the Whole Family’ by Brenda Roscher
Gill
4th July 2013 at 1:05 pmAny of Nigel Slater’s!
Johanna GGG
4th July 2013 at 2:30 pmI have a membership to eat your books and while I probably use it less than you I am finding it really useful after being a bit unsure about it at the start. It does help me return to my books when I sometimes feel there is a recipe in my house rather than on the WWW. And I really enjoy the blog with little snippets of information about foodie issues – even though I read it only from time to time
Anonymous
4th July 2013 at 3:39 pmLove, love, love Eat Your Books.I love reading other people’s comments on recipes. Love that they index blogs too. So invaluable.thanks for the great giveaway!
Janice Pattie
4th July 2013 at 5:55 pmMost of the books I own don’t appear on Eat your Books, so I’d like to see some older UK books like Gail Duff’s Vegetarian Cook Book appear in the lists
Gill Brown
4th July 2013 at 7:02 pmFantastic blog and loving EYB
JaynesDen
4th July 2013 at 7:41 pmSimon Rimmer’s vegetarian recipes.
Jo
4th July 2013 at 11:31 pmSo good to see the Edmonds cookbook in there!
Another good one which could be added is ‘Comfort – Food for Sharing’ (a book compiled of ‘delicious meals and baking from New Zealand’s top food writers’ and supporting the Starship Foundation)
Anonymous
5th July 2013 at 8:31 amlove food, love chocolate love Eat your books.
Indulge by Rowie Dillon would be another great book to have indexed !
frances
5th July 2013 at 8:33 amStephanie Alexander’s Kitchen Garden Companion: Dig, Plant, Water, Grow, Harvest, Chop, Cook. Great ideas and recipes, but almost too beautiful to dot with stock!
Joanna @ Zeb Bakes
5th July 2013 at 10:02 amI would like to see Jerusalem indexed but I haven’t been to look at the site yet so maybe it is?
Anonymous
5th July 2013 at 11:14 amIlove Eat My Books & deep, dark chocolate…yum!
Sue
7th July 2013 at 2:46 pmI love Eat Your Books and have a lifetimes membership already. It saves hours of trawling through my collection of books. My The link to my books is on both my Blogs if anyone wants a nosey as to what I have. 🙂
Elizabeth S
8th July 2013 at 8:46 amThis sounds like a great idea. It is not a bit time consuming loading all the labels for your recipes in the beginning though, or do they do that for you? I do quite like flipping through the pages of a cookery book, and I use the index to find recipes, but hrrrm.. yes, I don’t think this Eat Your Books is a bad idea! 😀
Sam Bilton
8th July 2013 at 10:18 amWhat a brilliant idea! As much as I adore my cookbook collection this would make life a lot easier. Sign me up for the prize draw!
Alan C
8th July 2013 at 11:37 amWe have some big Delia books so this would be handy
Adeinne
8th July 2013 at 8:51 pmThis comment has been removed by the author.
Adeinne
8th July 2013 at 8:53 pmIf i’m being honest then really any book as long as it has good recipes in it
Kieran M
9th July 2013 at 5:41 pmwhoop whoop! Chocolate Log
Candice M
10th July 2013 at 7:51 pmWould love to become a part of Eat Your Books! It’s another way to help me be more organized.
andrea
10th July 2013 at 7:51 pmany and all of darina allen’s cookbooks! thanks for the giveaway 😉
DineInDiva
10th July 2013 at 7:53 pmI love the concept and have nearly 800 books, so it would be awesome to win the membership
Liz Hay
10th July 2013 at 8:05 pmEat your Books is a terrific resource! Love to see any Canadian restaurant cookbooks indexed, as well as older versions of classic cookbooks that are hard to find, like Fanny Farmer.
Cathy Cheo-Isaacs
10th July 2013 at 8:10 pmMiette
James
10th July 2013 at 8:11 pmI have a slew of foreign-language books that I’d love to see indexed.
Kent Thomas
10th July 2013 at 8:18 pmI love Eat Your Books. When I win the free membership I will reconcile my cookbooks against the ones they have index.;)
Raquel Neofit
10th July 2013 at 11:19 pmI LOVE EYB – It’a a very clever concept!
CathyInMichigan
11th July 2013 at 12:24 amI have been a member of EYB for over 2 years and I think it is absolutely THE best idea anyone ever had! I “browse” my library often and come across recipes I never knew I had. I’d like to tackle indexing one of my cookbooks that isn’t part of their library…soon!
Cathy Keller
Poyma
11th July 2013 at 12:59 amI would like to see “We Sure Can!” By Sarah Hood
or
“100James, Jellies, Preserves & Pickles” by Gloria Nicol
or
“Arabella Boxer’s Book of English Food”
or
“Bulgarian Rhapsody by Linda Forristal”
Biblioholicbeth
11th July 2013 at 2:04 amSteamy Kitchen 🙂
Beth
11th July 2013 at 3:41 amI would like to see Working Cook indexed, as well as Hiroko’s Japanese Kitchen.
Lynda B
11th July 2013 at 4:02 amI’d have to look up what they have now, but off the cuff, i’d like Nourishing Traditions to be indexed.
Jennifer W
11th July 2013 at 6:06 amOoh, that’s a hard one! I think that aside from any published cookbook, I would most want my mother’s recipe collection indexed. I’ll have to set aside the time to get that done. 🙂
Mary
11th July 2013 at 1:36 pmMy vintage edition of Joy of Cooking.
Allison (Spontaneous Tomato)
11th July 2013 at 6:00 pmA Cook’s Journey to Japan by Sarah Marx Feldner.
Gambit
11th July 2013 at 6:09 pmAntonio Carluccio: The Collection
Kristy Brown
12th July 2013 at 7:20 amI still love the old Bero Baking Book, that would be fab to see as my copy is over 30 years old!
Anonymous
12th July 2013 at 12:46 pmLove Eat My Books…
Amie Jones
14th July 2013 at 5:42 pmmore veggie cookbooks!
caydensmum
14th July 2013 at 6:30 pmReady Steady Cook for Kids by Joanna Farrow
maddogs
14th July 2013 at 7:15 pmGenius!At present I end up sitting on the sofa with a pile of books which I flick through to find that one and only elusive recipe that I know is in one of the books…
maddogs
14th July 2013 at 7:19 pmOops, forgot to say that I’ve loads of books for the slow cooker and, because it tends to be a case of throwing things in before work, it would be great to find the recipe first time
Pam Francis Gregory
14th July 2013 at 7:44 pmDelia Smith’s How to Cook
Valencia Sowry
14th July 2013 at 7:45 pmLow GI recipes
clairew137
14th July 2013 at 8:21 pmA veggie kids one.
Valerie Myburgh
14th July 2013 at 8:31 pmRaw food children pack lunch cook book
Emily Troop
14th July 2013 at 8:55 pmLove Eat My Books 🙂 xxx
Anonymous
15th July 2013 at 7:17 amAny of the Nigel Slater books
Kathy Cakebread
15th July 2013 at 1:03 pmany jamie oliver
Jibber JabberUK
16th July 2013 at 9:53 pmA W.I one I bought which has no index!
Jennifer Baker
16th July 2013 at 11:34 pmEat my books! Fab!
Solange
17th July 2013 at 4:44 amSimon Rimmer’s vegetarian recipes.
Isis1981uk
17th July 2013 at 5:54 pmAny Nigella Lawson books.
talesofpiglingbland
18th July 2013 at 7:11 amPlenty by Yottam Ottelenghi as people talk about it so much
patanne1
18th July 2013 at 12:10 pmI would love to see all of Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks indexed!
Sophie Hedley
18th July 2013 at 5:25 pmI’m not sure what they have now but would love to see Antonio Carluccio: The Collection indexed 🙂 xx
karen
18th July 2013 at 8:01 pmAny of the Nigella books
Felicity Smith
19th July 2013 at 9:20 amAlison Holst
Maya Russell
20th July 2013 at 7:16 amFood from Your Garden from Reader’s Digest. It’s not a cook book only as it has gardening tips too, but it does have recipes for the food you can grow.
jessica agyin
20th July 2013 at 6:08 pm“We Sure Can!” By Sarah Hood
RachelinLiskeard
21st July 2013 at 8:30 amAnnie Bell’s Vegetable book – Rachelinliskeard
Di
21st July 2013 at 9:50 amThe Last Food of England by Marwood Yeatman and Anya Yeatman.
Anonymous
21st July 2013 at 10:31 amEYB are great im telling all my friends about these…….I cant credit this site enough
starwell
21st July 2013 at 12:50 pmThis comment has been removed by the author.
starwell
21st July 2013 at 12:53 pmMore recipe books relating to people with diabetic problems. my husband has type 2 diabetes and I like to cook/bake according to what will help him control this.
zoboze
23rd July 2013 at 6:14 pmThe Golden Book of Baking
Anonymous
24th July 2013 at 9:03 amJamie oliver
Michelle pierce
pepicola
24th July 2013 at 12:49 pmAnything from Slimming World
Bubbles17
25th July 2013 at 9:25 pmDelia Smith – How To Cook
Aimee R
28th July 2013 at 10:14 pmSome gluten-free cookbooks!
nocona
30th July 2013 at 7:39 amAny of the Good Housekeeping ones!
Mary
30th July 2013 at 9:14 amNigella Lawson’s puddings
Anonymous
30th July 2013 at 5:24 pmAny Goodhousekeeping
Claire D
jen jackson
30th July 2013 at 8:46 pmA romatic book
tupibcn
31st July 2013 at 11:04 amWow – I’ve been searching for something like this for years! Going to go and check it out now, looks absolutely brilliant. I’d love all of Jamie’s books to be listed
Hannah ONeill
31st July 2013 at 12:49 pmGreen and blacks chocolate books
Angie Hoggett
31st July 2013 at 3:15 pmI love Mary Berry’s dessert books
krnries
31st July 2013 at 5:00 pmAinsley Harriet’s meals in minutes
Kat Glynn
1st August 2013 at 11:35 amAll of Mary Berry’s books 🙂
Sheila Reeves
1st August 2013 at 2:56 pmFrugal food by Delia Smith – and I’d love them to index the Healthy Food Guide magazine
Victoria thurgood
1st August 2013 at 7:30 pmAnne Willan Good Food No Fuss
BeX
1st August 2013 at 7:33 pmthis thai vegetarian one I have!
Homebird
1st August 2013 at 10:09 pmTamarind & Saffron: Favourite Recipes from the Middle East – Claudia Roden